Recluse’s Gold Fortune To Be Auctioned For Taxes

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — The public will get its first look at a gold fortune that has been hidden away in Nevada for years.

About 135 pounds of Walter Samaszko Jr.’s gold coins will be auctioned off in 11 lots Tuesday in a courtroom to pay government taxes and fees.

Carson City Clerk Recorder Alan Glover says the auction will only include about half of the trove left behind when the reclusive man died in his modest Carson City home last year. The gold coins had been minted as early as the 1840s in such countries as Mexico, England, Austria and South Africa.

An exhaustive search identified California substitute teacher Arlene Magdanz as Samaszko’s first cousin and sole heir to the fortune that was decades in the making.

About $800,000 is due in estate taxes. Glover expects about $3 million from the auction.